Ocean Zone News Blog

From: Alaska Journal of Commerce

By: ANDREW JENSEN

Frustrated senators from coastal states are wielding the power of the purse to rein in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and refocus the agency’s priorities on its core missions.

During recent appropriations subcommittee hearings April 17, Sen. Lisa Murkowski ensured no funds would be provided in fiscal year 2013 for coastal marine spatial planning, a key component of President Barack Obama’s National Ocean Policy.

Murkowski also pushed for an additional $3 million for regional fishery management councils and secured $15 million for the Pacific Salmon Treaty that was in line to be cut by NOAA’s proposed budget (for $65 million total).

From: National Ocean Council Blog

Posted by Jerry Miller on March 23, 2012 at 05:36 PM EDT

President Obama has stated that the United States will promote the stewardship and sustainable use of the oceans in several ways including by cooperating and exercising leadership at the international level and pursuing U.S. accession to the Law of the Sea Convention.   On March 21^st, the State Department published a Fact Sheet identifying a number of compelling reasons why the United States should join the Law of the Sea Convention now.

From: WND

By: Aaron Klein

President Obama’s ambitious plan for stepped up government regulation of the oceans includes an unreported effort to cede U.S. oceans to United Nations-based international law, WND has learned.

The plan was previously a pet project of Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, whose ocean-zoning scheme was partnered with a globalist group that also aimed to hand over U.S. oceans to U.N. governance.

Obama’s plan is still in draft form. It calls for an executive order to be issued for a National Ocean Policy that will determine how the ecosystem is managed while giving the federal government more regulatory authority over any businesses that utilize the ocean.

From: Human Events

By: Audrey Hudson

From: California AG Network

US House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (R-Wa) calls it an unprecedented power grab.  He’s talking about the executive order issued by President Barack Obama called the National Ocean Policy.  Hastings has taken the unusual move of sending a letter to the House Appropriations Committee asking them to make sure funding to departments and agencies that would implement the president’s plan cannot use their money for those purposes.